


Three Times Hero Needed Beatrice and One Time Beatrice Needed Hero

by nerdfighter721



Category: Nothing Much to Do
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-10
Updated: 2015-07-10
Packaged: 2018-04-08 14:30:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4308729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdfighter721/pseuds/nerdfighter721
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hero needed Beatrice three really important times in her life, but the one time that Beatrice needs Hero, she doesn’t really want to ask for help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Three Times Hero Needed Beatrice and One Time Beatrice Needed Hero

**Author's Note:**

> I just really wanted to take a shot at one of these kinds of stories. This was the first idea that popped into my head.

**Three Times Hero Needed Beatrice and One Time Beatrice Needed Hero**

 

                _Time Number One_

Hero Duke treasured her toys above all else in the world, only very special occasions she might let her cousin play with them whenever she came over – but that was the only exception ever. Never would she let her big brother play with them because he always caused havoc. Today was a good day because Hero’s cousin would finally be coming over after the two of them hadn’t seen each other in what felt like _forever_. Hero had just finished cleaning her room when the doorbell rang and she raced downstairs.

“BEA!” Seven year old Hero sock-slid around the corner and tackle-hugged her nine year old cousin, “You have to see my room!” Hero giggled, giving a quick hello to her Aunt and Uncle before dragging Bea upstairs.

Leo, Hero’s eleven year old brother, was halfway down the stairs by the time Bea and Hero had passed him going back up. Bea said a hello but was pulled away too quickly by her little cousin for Leo to give a response.

Hero’s room had gotten even pinker since Bea had last seen her a year ago, with Christmas right around the corner, Hero was bound to get even _more_ of the color. Hero showed Bea her newest and most favorite stuffed animal that her Mumma had given her as a surprise for her birthday. It was Hero’s favorite little stuffed bunny rabbit, a cute little cottontail according to one of her pictures books.

The power-cousins ended up playing House, on Hero’s asking, and left Hero’s bedroom for a few minutes to go get their shoes on and get some lunch. Leo was the last one to come down the stairs when the three kids were called.

“Ready, mum!” Hero smiled, her long hair had been braided back out of her face just before Bea had shown up. She was the first one to have her shoes on and tied up, with Beatrice’s help. At her side, she carried her cottontail bunny around with her.

The seven of them all got into Mumma’s car and they headed out to a restaurant to eat. The three kids all ended up sleeping the entire car ride there, but woke up almost the moment that they pulled in. Once they were seated and ordered, the conversations begun.

Leo was in a conversation with Bea’s dad about the last Football match of the season that Leo had played – which he so happily said that he was the one who scored the winning kick. Bea’s mom was explaining to Hero’s mum’s about some of the sights that she had most recently seen with the Big Business that she works for.

Hero was continuing her story to Bea about a friend that she had made in the last few weeks of school, “She said her name was Ursula, which I thought was cool! It was like the name from the Little Mermaid! Ursula is nothing like the witch, though. She’s really sweet and quiet, but she’s already reading _chapter books_!” Hero pointed out, “They are _this thick_!” She added, folding her paper towel four times and showing Bea, “She’s really smart. Mumma and Mum said I might be able to have her over after they talk to Ursula’s parents!” Hero said excitedly, “You could meet her!”

Bea nodded along with the story that her little cousin was telling her, smiling at how excited her cousin was. She definitely wished that she got to see her cousin’s more often, but Leo didn’t like talking to Bea very much unless they were talking about Football. Even then, Leo doesn’t like that too much because Bea had beaten him in a match when they had visited last.

Before the families even realized it, they had finished their meals and cleared off their plates. The two families went out for a bit of shopping time and let the kids play in the park. Beatrice and Hero joined in on a game of tag with a little brother and sister who’s name were Stanley and Rosa. They were friendly, but their parents had to go not long after the tag game had stared.

Once the kids were effectively tired out, the family packed themselves back into the vehicle and headed home – the kids once again passing out on the ride back. It wasn’t until they got back home and both Hero and Bea were sitting in Hero’s room reading a picture book together that Hero jumped up and said, “MR. COTTONTAIL!” which was her stuffed rabbit.

The two girls stopped reading and frantically searched Hero’s room for her stuffed cottontail bunny, but realized it was missing. They looked all around the room – and even snuck into Leo’s room – but couldn’t find it anywhere. They even asked both of their parents, who promised to check everywhere they had been to find it, but Hero wasn’t convinced.

Hero took it as a lost cause first and hugged her cousin, “I-I-I lost Mr. Cottontail! Mumma is going to be so m-m-mad at me!” Hero cried, “I l-l-loved Mr. Cottontail!”

Bea hugged her little cousin, “It’s okay, Hero. Mom and Dad or Mum and Mumma will find Mr. Cottontail.” She said softly, rubbing Hero’s back like her mom would sometimes do to her when she was upset, “It’ll be okay. I promise.”

<_<        >_<        >_>

* * *

 

 

                _Time Number Two_

While Hero was off from school for holiday’s or just feeling a bit down, she liked to practice her sewing skills as much as she could. She had this whole idea that she would be able to make herself a dress before she went off to Uni. Her mum, who was exceptionally talented in the art of sewing, had taught Hero how to do it a couple of years ago, and now Hero was just determined to be as good as her mum.

The only problem today that was stopping her from sewing, since she was home alone and all her friends were currently busy, was that she couldn’t reach all her sewing supplies. Mumma had asked Leo to clean up the house before he went out to play football with his friends. Her brother mostly did well, but when he had cleaned up Hero’s supplies that she had left out for this occasion, he seemed to have forgotten that little sister was considerably shorter than he was, which he had been doing since he hit puberty and grew a foot over summer.

Hero saw no problem in her just finding a small ladder to get to the top shelf of her Mum’s study to get the necessary supplies. She set her phone down in the kitchen, since her cute pencil skirt didn’t have any pockets, found the small ladder and brought it into her mum’s study. The highest cabinet was usually where her Mum kept the sewing supplies, so that’s where Hero decided Leo probably would have set them. She had to go up five steps before she could look into the cupboard, but was disappointed to realize that it wasn’t there. Hero decided that she would move the ladder and try another cupboard over, however, the moment that she went to step down from the ladder, her socks slipped and she fell from the ladder. She tried to land on her feet as a balancing mechanism, but realized that was a bad idea when she crumpled in pain as her right ankle pulsed with pain.

The first response that Hero had was to cry out in pain, but no one was home. Leo was at football. Her Mum and Mumma were out shopping and weren’t due back for a few more hours. Her Aunt and Uncle, who were staying with them for Christmas, would be seeing the sights. Beatrice, her last hope, was out with Pedro and Ben and her other friends that were a year above Hero at Messina High. Her phone, which came to her after she decided no one would be home, was across the house in the kitchen.

“C’mon, Hero,” Hero said quietly to herself as tears streamed down her face from the pain, “You can get your phone and call for help.”

Hero braced herself on her Mumma’s desk and pulled herself up to her non-injured ankle – Hero had never injured herself this bad, so she had no idea if her ankle was broken or otherwise – and set her other leg slowly to the ground. She stepped forwards once but her ankle protested in pain and Hero fell back down to the ground with an “ooph!”

Taking a deep breath to try and control the pain, Hero slowly looked down at her ankle that she stretched out in front of her, she didn’t see any sort of odd thing sticking out like she once saw when Leo broke his arm when they were younger, so Hero hoped that meant that it wasn’t broken. Still, it was killer to try and walk on. Hero decided that she would just have to wait for someone to get home because she did not want to try to walk on her ankle again.

After a long few minutes of pain, where Hero had pulled herself up against her Mum’s desk, she heard her phone ringing. She hadn’t gotten around to changing everyone’s ringtone yet, so she had no clue who was calling her. It wasn’t until ten minutes after the call – which Hero only knew because her phone went off every five minutes to inform her she had a missed call, and her phone had gone off exactly twice – that someone was unlocking the house door.

“HERO? ARE YOU HOME?!” Hero rejoiced at the sound of her cousin’s voice.

“In here!” Hero gave out a weak call, the tears had pretty much stopped coming down her face, but it was still damp.

Beatrice had only just heard her little cousin and took off into her Auntie’s study, “HERO! OH MY GOD! WHAT HAPPENED?” Beatrice called, sliding down to her knees and looking at her cousin. She looked between the ladder, to the slightly open cupboard (which must have opened when Hero fell), to Hero crumpled on the floor.

Hero gave a nod to her ankle, “I fell off the ladder. I don’t think it’s broken, but I can’t walk on it.” She said, then moaned when Beatrice gently touched it.

“I’m so sorry Hero. I’m just making sure it’s not broken.” Beatrice said kindly, taking her little cousin’s hand with her free one.

“I know.” Hero said, Beatrice, having played Football, knew more about this than Hero did.

Beatrice looked at Hero’s contoured face, “Just take a deep breath, Hero. I’ll bring you out in a moment. Where’s your phone at?”

“In the kitchen. I left it there when I grabbed the ladder.” Hero said, feeling her cousin still poking and prodding at her ankle.

Beatrice nodded, “It’s not broken. It seemed like you might have twisted it when you fell.” She moved away from Hero’s ankle, “Here. Use me to support yourself. Don’t put any weight on your injured ankle.” Hero put an arm around her older cousin and allowed herself to be pulled up, “Just go slowly, this isn’t a race, Hero.” Beatrice said softly as Hero gripped her Mum’s desk and pulled herself up.

Once Hero was up on her good ankle, Hero used Beatrice as a balance to help her hop into the sitting room. Hero smiled at her cousin as they managed to make it across the house and Beatrice helped Hero onto one of the couches.

“You need to elevate and I’ll go grab some ice.” Beatrice said, helping her cousin lay across the couch and put her ankle up on the armrest, “And some pillows and blankets.” Beatrice added in an afterthought.

Beatrice tended to Hero, first bringing her the phone that was still out in the kitchen as well as a cloth and a bag of ice. Hero said many ‘thank you’s’ as Beatrice came back and forth from grabbing things to making sure Hero was comfortable, at one point, when Beatrice had went up to Hero’s room to find a movie for the two of them to watch – once Hero was comfortable – she came back down while she was on the phone, “She’s fine now, Ben. You don’t have to come over.” Beatrice laughed and Hero could’ve swore she saw her older cousin blush at something Ben said over the phone, “I’m fine too. I’ll see you later. Bye.”

Hero knew better than to mention that her cousin _might_ (read: does) have a crush on Benedick Hobbes, so she just smiled as Beatrice showed Hero ‘The Breakfast Club’.

“Sound good?” Beatrice asked.

Hero nodded, “Mum and Mumma said they will be home in a little bit, too. So then you can go back out and be with your friends.”

Beatrice shook her head, “I’d rather stay here with you. Make sure you don’t try to wander off on your own.”

“That’s not likely, Bea. I can hardly walk.” Hero laughed as Beatrice put in the movie.

“I’ll make us some chocolate salad to go along with the movie while the previews go through?” Beatrice suggested.

“I’d like that.” Hero said, “I love your famous chocolate salad.”

Beatrice walked away and Hero just smiled, she was so glad that Beatrice always seemed to be there to save the day when she needed her.

 

>_>        >_<        <_<

 

* * *

 

 

                _Time Number Three_

The whole world came crashing down around Hero Duke by just one person. Who knew that one single person could change how someone was portrayed in the eyes of most of her friends and almost all of her peers? In the instant that he had pushed her away, stating that he hated her, Hero knew that a few of her friends believed it.

Beatrice was there when it all happened, she helped Hero when she was crying and gasping for air, unsure of anything that had happened anymore. Maybe it was all some cruel nightmare the night before her party, she had been worrying that things may not go as planned. After he left, Beatrice was there to guide her away from all the onlookers from her party.

Not many of Hero’s friends stayed around to make sure she was okay after everything, but the ones that did, Hero was grateful for, even if she couldn’t say it at the time. She had to say that she was most grateful for her older cousin who stayed with her by her side and gave her a shoulder to cry on.

Hero looked up to her cousin for everything that she – and Ben – did to make sure that everyone heard her when it came to what Claudio said. Beatrice fiercely fought for her little cousin and didn’t back down at anything. With Bea by her side, Hero came out of everything stronger and more confident then she had gone in with. 

 

<_<        >_<        >_>

* * *

 

 

                _And The One Time Beatrice Needed Hero_

Beatrice Duke was a lot of things, she was strong-willed, stubborn, proud, ambitious, competitive, and brave. No one would ever dare call Beatrice Duke weak, but that didn’t stop her from constantly portraying herself in a way that would prove to herself and those around her that she was all of the things mentioned - except weak.

Sometime though, on such rare occasions, Beatrice breaks. She sees herself in such a weak light that she had always tried to avoid. One of those occasions had been right before she left to head off to Uni. She was still living with her two cousins, so she closed herself off into the bathroom. Leo would be off doing things that he does - Hero said that she heard he was dating someone, but she wouldn’t tell any more than that. Both of Hero’s Mum’s would be out for the day since it would be their anniversary. Hero was away in her room working on something or another. Contrary to popular belief, the girls were not conjoined at the hip.

Everything just started out as a shit day and the day slowly got shitter and shitter as it went on. By mid-afternoon Beatrice just couldn’t take it anymore. She was stressed. She hated most of the people she used to call her ‘friend’ - save the two good souls that she knew - and she just wanted to cry. But she was Beatrice Duke. Crying was not her thing. She made a point for crying not to be her thing.

So, that’s how she ended up crumpled away in the bathroom, almost-silent tears streaming down her face. ‘Almost-silent’ only because of the involuntary gasps that happened, to which she would then cover her mouth and beg that Hero wasn’t walking by. Even the luck that she had thus far of Hero not being able to hear her would eventually end if she didn't get control of herself soon enough.

Meanwhile, in Hero’s room, she realized that she hadn’t heard Beatrice at all in quite some time. Last she knew, Bea had been re-reading Mary Shelley’s _Frankenstein_ once again. Not that she could usually hear her older cousin when she was reading, but something was nagging Hero in the back of her mind. Setting her sewing supplies off to the side, Hero stood up from her desk and decided it would be best to go and check on her cousin.

Hero walked over to her cousin’s bedroom and knocked twice, “Bea?” She said softly, opening up the door to reveal that she wasn’t in there. “Hmm…” Hero hummed to herself, shutting the door and backtracking.

A part of Hero just wanted to call out to see if her cousin would answer, but she froze as she walked by the bathroom - and heard the unmistakable sound of something she could only describe as gasping. Hero did a quick calculation as to where her family was right now: Mum and Mumma weren’t planning on being home ‘till tomorrow, Leo was out with his currently mysterious girlfriend, and Bea was missing.

“Bea? Are you okay?” Hero asked, knocking on the door.

The gasping stopped almost immediately, “Go away Hero. I’m fine.” Beatrice responded, but Hero could tell that there was something completely off with her cousins’ voice. It almost sounded like she was _crying_.

_Oh gosh,_ Hero thought to herself, she put her hand on the doorknob and said softly, “I’m coming in Bea.” She warned, before opening up the door to see her older cousin curled up in the corner of the bathroom with tears still running down her face. Beatrice tried to hide her face from Hero, but Hero noticed it right away.

Hero collected tissues that were on a shelf and kneeled over next to Bea, “What’s going on?” Hero asked softly, as Beatrice graciously took a tissue without looking at Hero.

“I’m fine, Hero. Really. Go back to what you were doing.”

“Bea, I’m not going to leave you.” Hero said as sweetly as she could while she was worrying about her older cousin, “What’s wrong?” She gave a small smile, “Do I need to kick someone’s butt?”

It was a show of something was really wrong because Beatrice didn’t comment on what Hero said at all, “Today just sucks, Hero.” Beatrice said, blowing her nose, “It just started out as a bad day and ended even worse.” She shook her head, “I can’t believe I’m sitting in a bathroom crying about this.” She said, tossing the tissue across the room in anger and throwing her head back, “I’m so stupid.”

“People cry.” Hero told Beatrice, “You’re not stupid for breaking down. It happens to the best of the people - it’s just natural sometimes.”

Beatrice shrugged and threw her head back onto the wall, taking another tissue from Hero to try and clear off some of the tears, “This is all just dumb.”

Hero tucked her legs underneath herself, “Tell me what’s going on, Bea. Talking does help.”

Finally, Hero got Beatrice to look up at her, the two girls held their gaze until Beatrice finally looked away and took a deep breath, “This morning I couldn’t find my chucks anywhere. I tore up my room even more than it already is. I almost locked myself out of my car when I went to the shoppes this morning if it hadn’t been for the alarm. Then my fourth favorite t-shirt just ripped out of nowhere, which I don’t get sentimental about those kinds of things, but it just added to everything else. To add to all of that, Bene _dick_ is the biggest dickface that I have quite possibly ever met and can’t believe that I ever thought it would be a good idea to date him. I’m not the kind of person to have a boyfriend.” Beatrice ended up putting her head against the wall and looking up at the ceiling again.

“Well, you are supposed to be the future spinster of the world.” Hero said jokingly, thankfully, Beatrice saw the joke as well.

“With my fifteen cats with synchronized cats going in and out of their own doors.” Beatrice laughed slightly, “All named cat.”

Hero smiled, “The Cattack is happening again, Miss future spinster of the universe.”

“I will still make the Cattack: The Meowsical.” Beatrice added with a smile, then looked down at her socks and sighed, “Thanks, Hero.”

“What are cousins for?” Hero said as the two of them hugged, “You’ve been there for me so many times before.” She added with a smile on her face.

Hero did coax Beatrice to come out of the bathroom with the promise of Hero’s version of chocolate salad. Leo ended up calling to say that that he was going to be out for the night, so the two girls ended up taking over the lounge and inviting Ursula and Meg over for a girl’s night. Where no talk of the terrible day that Bea might have had would be mentioned - which meant no mention of boys or relationships.

Later in the night, Ursula had already gone to sleep and Meg was in the restroom, Beatrice looked over at her little cousin, “Thanks. For everything today.”

Smiling, Hero said, “Hey, you’ve done it for me many times for me. I’m just happy to help you out.” Hero said.

It ended up being a good night.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure if I like how I ended it, but I really just couldn't think of a good ending. But still... I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading :)


End file.
